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FSU strikes up issue of campus smoking ban

By Michael Hartwell, mhartwell@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
11/18/2013 06:43:07 AM EST

FITCHBURG -- Secondhand smoke clouds college campuses throughout the region, creating a potentially hazardous environment for students as they walk between classes and to the dining hall, according to tobacco-free advocates.

Some schools are looking to make cigarettes and other tobacco products a thing of the past by banning smoking everywhere on campus -- even outdoors. UMass Amherst made the move earlier this year, and UMass Lowell could be the next school to put the kibosh on smoking.

Should Fitchburg State University join the tobacco-free movement?

President Robert Antonucci said the matter is being considered by the university. Two public forums have already been held to discuss banning smoking, but he said the campus community does not support the ban at the moment, making a ban in the foreseeable future unlikely.

"I'm not going to dictate a smoke-free campus to them," said Antonucci.

Antonucci said a nursing student gave him a presentation recommending a ban on cigarettes and other products like chewing tobacco, but students, faculty and staff members oppose an outright ban.

The issue is more complicated than student health, said Antonucci, as everyone knows cigarettes cause health problems. A non-smoker, Antonucci said students have rights, including the right to smoke, and those rights need to be respected. He added that outdoor smokers have not caused problems at FSU.

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Because smoking is already banned in school buildings and residence halls, Antonucci said the issue is about outdoor tobacco use, which could take the form of a ban on all tobacco products or just cigarettes. The school does not have the power to ban smoking on North Street, which runs through the middle of campus and where students frequently walk between classes.

He said FSU plans to make a formal policy decision in the spring.

Stanley Bucholc, FSU's dean of Student and Academic Life, said nationally, one out of every four college student smokes, and most took up the habit between the ages of 18 and 25. Any campus ban would take about three to four years to implement and would affect the faculty, staff members and on-campus contractors as well, he said.

Greg Seward is director of Tobacco-Free Implementation and Tobacco Consultation Service at UMass Memorial Health Care and Medical School in Worcester. The hospital's campus went tobacco-free in 2008, and he said the push came from the school and the hospital.

"There were many other hospitals and colleges ahead of us that went tobacco-free," he said, such as Heywood Hospital in Gardner. He said on the whole, people respect the policy.

"For the most part, it's much better than what people feared or anticipated," said Seward. "There's been a lot of good, but some people still struggle with it, just like any other policy."

He said people have accepted smoking bans indoors and on the rare occasion that an employee is caught with a cigarette outdoors, he said it is treated like any other rule infraction.

"The first time you're caught, you might need a meeting with your supervisor," said Seward. He's not aware of anyone being fired for smoking.

Seward said some hospitals are refusing to hire smokers, and while UMass Memorial in Worcester is not one of them, he said it is a legal policy in Massachusetts. This makes smoking bans moot in some areas.

"You don't have to quit smoking to work here, you just need to comply with the rules," he said.

UMass Amherst became a tobacco-free campus on July 1, after a year of notifications and signs announcing the policy, according to university spokesman Daniel Fitzgibbons. He said the campus is plastered with reminders to make sure visitors and new students are aware of the policy.

"We're finding that most people are complying with the policy," he said. The only exceptions have been people on the edges of the campus. There is no formal punishment for violating the policy.

Fitzgibbons said UMass Amherst is one of about 150 colleges nationwide with tobacco bans. The campus looks better now that cigarette butts and weather-beaten cigarette receptacles are no longer visible, he said.

At UMass Lowell, activists are making traction with their effort to ban tobacco. The coalition includes student leaders, administrators and the American Cancer Society.

Today, smoking is not permitted within 25 feet of any building on school grounds, but students at the forefront of the tobacco-free initiative seek to ban the use of all tobacco products on campus.

"We're trying to start a cultural movement here, so that someday smoking is not the norm on campus," said Katie Burnett, 21, a junior from Berkley. "There's many smokers around buildings and around the gazebo in South Campus, so secondhand smoke is really impacting every student.

"We want students to kick the habit, and we want to protect nonsmokers on campus," she added.

Burnett and others have been collecting signatures for the "Change is in the Air" campaign. They have collected 1,500 signatures so far and hope to double that number, with the goal of having a tobacco-free campus policy by September 2014.

UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan has pledged his support to the group, which has committed to make available tobacco-cessation resources and services on campus, whether the ban takes effect or not.

"I'm very proud of our student government and students across the university for their activism on this issue, which is so important to all of us," said Meehan, a former congressman. "Smoking and secondhand smoke kill people every year, and students' health should never be in danger on campus."

Other campus bans in Massachusetts include Salem State University, Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School.

"Several universities have been pursuing these policies, and it's great to see the UMass Lowell students taking this issue head on," said Marc Hymovitz, director of government relations and advocacy for the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network. "They're showing that they don't want to become another tobacco-addicted generation."

There is no formal campaign to ban smoking at Fitchburg State University. Several students interviewed on campus this week were unenthusiastic about a ban.

"It doesn't matter to me," said freshman Joey St. Hilaire, 18, a nonsmoker.

Senior Steve Alicata, 21, is another non-smoker who doesn't support a ban. His friend Ryu Shiga, a 20-year-old sophomore, likened a ban to the prohibition on alcohol in 1920, and said it could encourage students to break more rules.

"It doesn't bother me," said sophomore Kelli Cormier, 19, of smoking. She said she doesn't see any reason for a ban.

Fitchburg City Councilor David Clark, who works as an events technician at FSU, said he does not have a strong opinion on the issue. His father died at 51 of smoking-related health problems, but Clark said he does not smoke and does not think a ban would change much.

A contractor working at FSU named Mike was one of the few people seen smoking on campus Tuesday. He declined to give his last name and although a ban would impact him, he said it is not something worth getting upset over.

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